15 Biggest Import-Export Companies in the World

Affan Mir
12 min read

In This Article:

In this article, we discuss the 15 biggest import-export companies in the world. To skip the details about global imports and exports, go directly to the 5 Biggest Import-Export Companies in the World.

International trade is one of the driving factors of the global economy. In the recent year, global trade hit a snag in 2018 due to tensions between USA and China. However, it was on its way to recovery when the COVID-19 pandemic started to spread worldwide. 2021 saw global trade recovery due to mass vaccine roll-outs and the easing of lockdown restrictions.

China was the biggest exporter in the world in 2021 with exports worth $3.36 trillion by the end of the year. It was followed by the United States with exports worth $1.75 trillion and Germany came a close third after recording exports of over $1.6 trillion. In 2020, China accounted for 14.7% of global commodity imports and 5.7% of global services exports. 

In 2022, Bahrain is the world’s biggest importer with imports worth $1.33 trillion accounting for 57.3% of the global imports in October alone. It is followed by China with imports worth over $215 billion and then the USA with $191.278 billion worth of imports. In 2021, the United States was the biggest commodity importer in the world with imports worth $3.39 trillion. The top five countries including the USA, China, Germany, France, and Japan accounted for 40.73% of the global imports.

In the first nine months of 2022, the global oil and gas industry has been the biggest exporter in the world, followed by the healthcare and automotive industry.

COVID-19 Impact

The pandemic severely affected global trade due to lockdowns and supply chain disruptions. The most substantial drop was experienced by the world in the second quarter of 2020 after the global merchandise trade declined by 21% YoY. The third quarter was better with global trade experiencing a 5% YoY decline.

In 2021, global trade saw a significant recovery and hit a record of $28.5 trillion, representing a growth of 25% from 2020 and 13% from the 2019 levels.

By the end of 2022, global trade is expected to be lower than the 2021 levels. 

Photo by ammiel jr on Unsplash

Our Methodology

After analyzing the global trade statistics and import-export companies, we made a list of the 15 biggest import-export companies by market capitalization. Some notable names in the list include Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM), QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM), and Archer-Daniels-Midland Company (NYSE:ADM). In addition, we also listed some of the private companies in the list due to their significance in global trade and they have been listed according to their revenue generated in 2021.

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